Ok..so I was doing a little research on a couple of the speakers that I really liked at Axpona (see brief reviews from the Axpona thread) and I found out that both of them utilize drivers with underhung voice coils. Hmm…

Acoustic Zen Crescendo mkii speakers driven by triode japan TRX-845 mono block tube amps (using either 845 or 211 tubes...neither of which I have ever heard of before) sounded very musical. Tone and timbre were excellent and I found the presentation to be very engaging. The room was bad, maybe even awful (very small, no bass traps), and I still enjoyed the music, so I can only imagine what this system would sound like in a treated room. I would love to hear the ZMA paired up with these speakers. Too bad they are 10x the cost of the 944’s. $16,500.

The Venture (Vici) system was excellent. We were surprised more people weren’t in the room at any one time, but maybe it was because it was a bit off the beaten path (near the Starbucks). The system sounded very natural and lively. Tone was incredible. At one point I really thought someone was playing a saxophone in the room. Speaking of the room, they were in a huge room and they had the system pulled out into the middle of the room. It was a 2.1 system and the sub integrated seamlessly. Drums sounded particularly natural and lively. At one point we were listening to Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take 5’ and it was the best reproduction of this track that I have heard. The drum hits were spectacular. The speakers will only set you back $36K and they were being driven by 200 watt Venture class A monoblocks that will set you back 120K. Geeze.

Lon...I plan to demo the HR-1's with the ZMA at Mini-Decfest (assuming we can get our act together on that one) or whenever I can get out to Decware for a listening session. So I can't comment on the HR-1's at this point.

The point of this thread wasn't really the Acoustic Zen/Venture Audio speakers per se, it was that they shared a common voice coil technology in their drivers. I don't know if that is why I liked the speakers, but underhung coils are supposed to improve the distortion characteristics of dynamic drivers.

I know the point of the thread Dave and probably shouldn't have introduced divergence! I just love he HR-1s so much . . . and I'm sure the ZMA would make them disappear and flow. Will be interested to hear your impressions when and if you get to hear them.

Dave, I think their is something to the underhung distortion charactistics....and why you liked them. My 3.1 Gallo's are underhung an they are special/never to be sold. I have long wanted a pair of Adagio's an will probably pull the trigger on a pair with their underhung magnets.

I rotate 3 pair of Speakers with my ZMA....so adding the Adagio's as the fourth could possibly prove to be another pair to fall in my never to be sold stable (tube friendly they are of course=known for it...as you heard the Cresendo's are).

Stone, I didn't realize the Gallos also utilized drivers with underhung voice coils. There might be something to the theory after all! Is AG about to release a new reference speaker???

The Crescendos were in a terrible room at the show and for some reason the sound kept drawing me back in. I have read great things about the Adagios, but haven't heard them in person. If they have the same general characteristics as the Crescendos, you are in for a treat. Cheers! -Dave